By Ella Anokam

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has unveiled six gazetted regulations to spur investment and economic growth in the midstream and downstream sectors of the petroleum industry.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the regulations which were unveiled on Wednesday in Abuja included the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Operations Regulations and Assignment or Transfer of License and Permit Regulations.

Others include the Petroleum Measurement Regulations; Gas Pricing and Domestic Demand Regulations; Petroleum (Transportation and Shipment) Regulations; and Natural Gas Pipeline Tariff Regulations.

Speaking at the unveiling, Amb. Idaere Ogan, NMDPRA Board Chairman, said the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 provided for the development of the regulations to actualise the benefits of the PIA.

Ogan, while commending the management, regulation drafting committee and relevant stakeholders whose inputs were considered as expected by the PIA said the regulations covered all aspects of the PIA to promote economic growth.

Mr Farouk Umar, Authority Chief Executive NMDPRA, said in addition to the six regulations being inaugurated, 14 other regulations have been developed and shall be issued shortly.

Umar said the PIA emplaced a framework for the development of the relevant regulations that would support sustainable growth and investment across the oil and gas value chain in Nigeria.

“Accordingly, the NMDPRA in consultation with relevant stakeholders, has developed the regulations which have been designed to enable businesses through regulatory clarity, certainty, fairness, transparency, andbest industry standards.

“I would like to commend all our stakeholders who contributed to the development of these regulations. In Particular, my thanks goes to the Authority’s Regulations Drafting Team who worked tirelessly to deliver on this critical assignment.

“The Authority remains committed to collaborating and engaging with our industry stakeholders whilst promoting transparency and accountability, in the implementation of these regulations,’’ he said.

In an overview, Dr Joseph Folorunsho, NMDPRA Legal Adviser/Secretary, said the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Operations Regulations applied to gas and petroleum liquid operations and oil and gas service permit.

Folorunsho said it bordered on conformity assessment and technological adaptation and also provided for the grant of licenses and sanctions on violators.

He said the Assignment or Transfer of License and Permit Regulations applied for approval or consent of authority on all midstream processing facilities including terminals, pipelines and blending infrastructure.

“The objective of the Petroleum Measurement Regulations is to ensure accurate measurement on allocation of gas and crude oil and ensuring installation of appropriate measurement by company and metering of oil and gas operations.

“Gas Pricing and Domestic Demand Regulations regulates retail gas pricing, prices of marketing natural gas of the strategic sectors, and identifies the unregulated market and make provisions.

“Petroleum (Transportation and Shipment) Regulations regulates activities relating to transportation loading, shipment and export of crude oil. It prohibits illegal and unauthorised crude oil activities, among others,” Folorunsho said.

He said the Petroleum (Transportation and Shipment) Regulations was expected to stem crude oil theft and illegal activities while Natural Gas Pipeline Tariff Regulations provided framework for tariff methodology and transportation of natural gas. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

=============
Edited by Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

By Ella Anokam

An Associate Professor, Olanrewaju Aladeitan has urged other gas producing countries to take advantage of the vacuum created by the non-supply of oil to Europe by Russia and expand their gas projects to penetrate the European market.

“This is where countries like Qatar and Nigeria come in,” Aladeitan, an oil and gas expert said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.

Aladeitan, an Associate Professor of Energy and Natural Resources, University of Abuja said the major off-taker of Nigerian gas was in Europe and there were on-going viable projects to actualise that.

On issues bordering the Russian-Ukraine war and the strategic position of Russian Gazprom, the strategic producer and supplier of gas, he said the crisis left some shortfalls in continental Europe, the UK and NATO allies.

“Now ordinarily, it is elementary business logic that vacuum created by the non-supply of oil by Russia should be taken advantage of by any other gas producer and this is where countries like Qatar comes in.

“So North Europe is looking at where to readily get supply to make up for the shortfall or non-supply from Russia.

“So, definitely, there is an implication, there is an effect of the Russian special operation or invasion on Ukraine on gas supply.

“Now gas countries, of which Nigeria is one and a country like Qatar are willing to take advantage of that opportunity of course, because there is a demand.

“But how do you take advantage of that particular gap that has been left as a result of the decision of Gasprom to withdraw supply from that region,” he asked.

On Nigeria’s preparedness to catch in on that opportunity, he said Nigeria would have been prepared if it had done what it needed to do as far back as the 1970s, or even in the early 1990s and 2000.

He said that these periods were when the whole idea of the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline (TSGP) project was mooted and revisited again which would have aided penetration to the EU market.

“If we had done that then, by now we would be smiling to the bank because we would have utilised the opportunity of market that was left by the withdrawal of Russia,” he said.

He said Nigeria took deliberate action, starting with the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company in developing the gas sector.

This he said was in a bid to cut down on gas flare, and also to take advantage of the economic potential of the gas reserves in the country.

He said the major off-taker of Nigerian gas was in Europe, but how to reach there, and derive the utmost benefit, had also been of concern to the country.

According to him, it is why the idea of the TSGP project has always been there as piping the gas all the way through will cost less because the cost of transportation through the vessel is something else.

“So if we can achieve the same aim through the Trans-Sahara pipeline, it will be fine.

“We also have the West African Gas Pipeline, which passes through Benin Republic, Togo to Ghana, and that has also been in the works for some time.

“This is what has informed Nigeria looking at constructing these pipelines to Europe and the gas can flow from there,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

=========
Edited by Ese E. Eniola

By Ella Anokam

An Oil and Gas Expert, Olanrewaju Aladeitan, has lauded the new oil and gas discoveries in Nigeria, which indicate that the country has huge gas reserves.

The expert said Nigeria could be more described as a gas country than a crude oil country because it had trillions cubic feet of gas reserves.

Aladeitan, an Associate Professor of Energy and Natural Resources, University of Abuja, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Abuja on Sunday.

NAN reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had in November 2022 inaugurated the Kolmani Integrated Development Project at Kolmani River II oil field located at a border community between Bauchi and Gombe States.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) in 2019 had announced the discovery of crude oil, gas and condensate in the Kolmani Oil Field with over one billion oil barrels reserves and 500 billion cubic feet of gas.

The NNPCL is also set to develop the first oil well in Nasarawa State in March 2023 in view of its confirmation of presence of substantial hydro carbon resources in the state.

Aladeitan said information from an insider revealed that data emerging from the Bauchi-Gombe axis showed that there was oil in commercial quantity, but with a caveat that gas could be more.

He said some of the new frontiers that were also being discovered in the country even had more gas reserves than crude oil reserves.

“Which means Nigeria’s reserve of gas is very huge.

“Somewhere around Igbariam in Anambra we have a huge gas reserve there.

“Luckily, there are new frontiers coming up, we have the Bauchi-Gombe new oil and gas discovery that is fast coming on and recently in Nasarawa and also Niger.

“By the time the efforts are taken to the Sokoto Trough, we may also find some reserves there as well,” he said.

Speaking on the perception of some people whether oil was truly found in the new locations, he said initially all the troughs had shown evidence of crude oil and gas in the past.

But he said unfortunately the technology available then may not have made it possible to follow up the discoveries.

He said though some people were skeptical about the discovery of oil in those environments, but it was not as if those areas never showed evidence of crude oil as there were traces.

According to him, the kind of technology that existed in the past could not make them explore further, but now there is advanced technology that has made it possible.

He further said then Shell was exploring oil and given the entire country, but realised that the Niger Delta had more concentration of oil.

This, he said made Shell to concentrate in that region, not that there had not been traces of oil in other places.

“But we are not sure that if the exploration continues, whether or not it will show that it is in commercial quantity or not.

“But I can assure you from an insider view that the data emerging from the Bauchi-Gombe axis shows that there is oil in commercial quantity, but with a caveat that what they may get more might be gas.

“So, even in the Chad Basin, there are traces of it. There are evidences. It is just like what happened with shale gas; you know that there are some unconventional sources of gas and oil that is what the shale gas is all about.

“So, in some of those unconventional sources, you use new technology and you will definitely discover.

“What I am saying in essence is that with improved technology and improved knowledge now, we can get clearer pictures of those things we could not assess or have information about in the past.

“Some people ridiculously argued that they connected oil pipelines all the way from the Niger Delta region to Benue, which is a ridiculous thing to say,” he said.

He, however, emphasised the need to cut down gas flare and take advantage of the economic potential of gas reserves in the country. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

===========
Edited by Salif Atojoko

By Ella Anokam

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), says it is planning a production based lending engagement to assist the 2020 Marginal Field Bid Round licences awardees to source needed capital.

The NUPRC said it would help the awardees to commence full field development toward hitting first oil.

Mr Gbenga Komolafe, Commission Chief Executive, NUPRC in a statement on Tuesday said the engagement would be between the Commission, Petroleum Production Licence (PPL) Awardees, Exploration and Production (E&P) service providers and Nigerian Banks.

“It is to provide platforms for strategic partnership/alliance between the awardees and the service providers for Well Re-entry and drilling services.

“The arrangement is to be offered on service fee recoverable by the service providers from production to be attached,” he said.

Komolafe said the commission had already concluded plans to organise an E&P International Financing Road show in Abuja in the coming weeks for financiers, investment bankers, private equities, and multi-lateral institutional investors.

According to CCE, the initiative is to showcase the high value quick win opportunities available to investors in the recent PPL awards, the on-going National Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, as well as the on-going Mini-bid awards.

In order to ease the challenges thrown up by the initial corporate governance issues that arose before the inauguration of the Petroleum Industry Act (2021), he said the commission had developed a Corporate Governance Framework for upstream petroleum operations.

“The framework is currently at an advanced stage of internal review and stakeholders engagements required for its finalisation.

“This is to enhance sustainability, environmental and corporate governance requirements and to facilitate capital attraction by investors for the optimal and efficient development of the PPLs and other assets,” he said.

He said the commission initiated revision of the subsisting Extended Well Test (EWT) Guideline to facilitate dynamic data gathering and accelerate the achievement of first oil to enhance early cash flow and speed up the journey to first oil.

This strategy, he said had already yielded positive results with 16 companies submitting Field Development Plan (FDP), two already commencing unitisation processes, six re-entries and two having gone through the EWT.

However, he said the Commission was not unmindful of the protracted dispute among some of the awardees triggered by shareholder disagreements and/or misunderstanding.

“We are collaboratively engaging the parties and mediating to facilitate early closure and diligent progression toward achieving the expected regulatory milestones, including value creation and hitting first oil.

“Since the award of forty-seven (47) PPLs to solely Nigerian entities in June 2022, the commission has made concerted efforts within the stipulations of the law, to provide statutory guidance and support toward the progression of the assets to field development.

“Steps taken include the convocation of Regulatory Induction Programme for PPL awardees to enable them have the requisite understanding of the statutory protocols from the award to first oil.

According to him, a week-long tripartite engagement in Lagos for all awardees and initial asset owners in 2022, with about 30 entities in attendance has also been taken.

“During that event, both the awardees and former asset owners resolved all impediments to the smooth take over by the awardees and operation to first oil.

“That event set the stage for engagements on issues required to fulfil initial work programme obligations,” he added.

He said areas that were presented and rigorously deliberated upon included Royalty and Tax administration, Data Exchange Protocol and Leasing requirements.

Komolafe also listed others as Field Development Plan under the PIA (2021), Permitting Processes for Drilling and Re-entry Applications, Production Accounting, Facilities Deployment, and Host Communities’ Development. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

=============
Edited by Ese E. Eniola Williams

By Ella Anokam

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Wednesday trained 65 Fire Wardens and Marshals on safety, emergency response and fire-fighting techniques.

The Fire Marshals training was organised in Abuja by the NUPRC in collaboration with the Federal Fire Service (FFS).

Speaking at the training, Mr Emmanuel Okpale, Acting, Assistant Director, Safety Control, NUPRC said the training became necessary because of the need for more safety consciousness on global happenings and insecurity.

Okpale said the in-house training was basically on how to respond to emergency situations, with emphasis on the aspect of safety in the buildings, workplaces and how to ensure safety of the entire staff.

He said the training aimed at exposing the marshals on how to ensure safety in the case of emergency and how people could be evacuated safely and gathered within the designated muster point.

“There are a lot of things happening in the world presently, insecurity is growing, so those saddled with this responsibility need to know what to do during emergencies.

“There are basic equipment we use for responding to emergencies like the Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) method and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) which can be deployed in the offices in case of emergency situations,” he said.

Okpale, while describing the training as a global best practice, urged companies and organisations to imbibe awareness and preparedness on emergency response and equally adopt NUPRC’s method in order to save lives.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training featured some FCT Fire Marshals, who exposed the personnel to the real term emergency situation, roles of fire marshals, emergency fire-fighting drills and practical on emergency response.

Speaking on “Behavior Best Safety Culture and Combustion” Mr Ibrahim Muhammad, Superintendent of Fire and Public Relation Officer, FCT Fire Service dwelt on how to improve people’s safety consciousness.

“In trying to do that you have to make them imbibe safety culture to change their behavior towards safety conscious. One has to observe and put safety first in order not to cause injury to others.

“You can change your present attitude where you work to be more safety conscious and ensure you have the knowledge of safety. While you are doing it make sure you follow the standard operating procedure of every assignment given.

“You must know the administrative way by training people, engineering control and by using Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) which include helmets, safety boots and gloves among others to be safe against hazards,” he said.

He advised other organisations and agencies that would like to indulge in similar training not to limit their staff to only training but to organise and put in their calendars a safety week annually for training.

This, he said, would expose them on all aspects of hazards at work place and home, which would be well disseminated to spur safety consciousness.

According to him, because of activities of different organisations, some need basic training while some, especially those in the oil and gas sector need to extend it to other aspects because of oil and gas fire. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

===========
Edited by Isaac Aregbesola

By Ella Anokam

Many motorists in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been groaning over the current fuel crisis and continuous queues at fuel stations.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who monitored fuel stations in Abuja reports that many stations are not dispensing products, while the few that are dispensing are causing serious traffic due to long queues.

The motorists also expressed displeasure over the cash crunch in the country, which they say is compounding the issue, and appealed to the Federal Government to intervene swiftly.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) had attributed the fuel queues in Abuja and some parts of the country to restriction on businesses and movement during the presidential and National Assembly elections.

The NNPCL said operations had resumed at the depots and trucks are being dispatched to various parts of the country.

A motorist, Mr Aloysius Osita, told NAN that the resurfacing of fuel scarcity is adding to the demoralised state of residents.

He added that “I thought that the issue of fuel scarcity has been addressed finally, but I was surprised to see queues everywhere.

“It has worsened the situation, in view of queuing for fuel and Point of Sale (POS) payment at the same time.

“After queuing for fuel, you will also queue for POS, which may decline and alter the fuel purchase.”

Another motorist, Mr Gbemi Olugbenga, expressed concern over the unavailability of products and urged the regulatory authority to hasten products distribution to cushion the effect.

Olugbenga said “sometimes, some fuel stations are taken over by touts who usually hijack the fuel station’s management, causing more hardship and traffic for other commuters.”

Some of the residents also lamented the lack of fuel to power their generators for businesses and domestic use.

NAN reports that “black marketers” are also seen making brisk sales, selling 10 litres of petrol at N4,000 through electronic transfer or POS payment, and N3,500 for cash payment.

One of the sellers who would not want to be identified said the “black marketers” had been facing difficulties in getting fuel from the stations, adding that most of them insist on cash payment instead of transfer or POS payment.

Meanwhile, the NNPCL retail outlets sell a litre of petrol at N940, while other fuel stations sell at N950 per litre.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) had said it was working with other stakeholders to mitigate the tightness being experienced in the distribution of fuel. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

==============
Edited by Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu

By Ella Anokam

The non-operating Joint Venture (JV) partners of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 18 have appointed the NNPC Eighteen Operating Limited as operator of OML 18 to replace Eroton Exploration and Production Limited (Eroton).

Mr Garbadeen Muhammad, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd, in a statement on Monday said this was to curtail further degradation of the asset and revamp production of oil and gas.

“In order to protect the JV investment in OML 18, the non-operating partners, NNPC Limited (55 per cent interest) and OML 18 Energy Limited (“OML 18 Energy” – 16.20 per cent interest), jointly owning 71.20 per cent equity, removed Eroton as operator of the JV.

“This is in line with the provisions of the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA).

“NNPC Limited and OML 18 Energy further appointed NNPC Eighteen Operating Limited as operator of the JV,” he said.

Muhammad said the change in operatorship had been notified to the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and communicated to Eroton.

He said while the key business reasons that made the change in operatorship were compelling, it was publicly available information that production had declined from thirty thousand barrels per day (30,000 bpd) to zero.

He said the persisting inability of Eroton to meet the fiscal obligations of the Federal Government led to the sealing of Eroton’s head office in Lagos by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for more than 12 months due to non-payment of outstanding taxes.

According to him, Eroton is also not able to remit to the JV parties the proceeds of gas supplied to its affiliate, NOTORE.

He said a number of audits and investigations, including by the EFCC, NURPC’s work programme audit and others had been undertaken or were ongoing.

He said some of these audits were regulatory steps that may lead to licence revocation under the relevant Laws if drastic steps were not taken by non-operating partners.

“NNPC Limited in particular, as majority shareholder with a unique stewardship responsibility to the Federation, is committed to assuring that the energy and financial security of the country is uppermost in its business decisions.

“Removing an operator in these circumstances is therefore inevitable in order to protect the JV from Governmental or third parties action from entities, including Eroton’s lenders and other service providers.

“It is important to highlight that OML 18 is an oil-producing block covering 1,035 square kilometres located south of Port Harcourt and contains 11 oil and gas fields with about 714 Million Stock Tank Barrels (MMSTB) of oil and condensate and 4.7 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas reserves.

“Eight fields have been developed, but only four are currently producing: Cawthorne Channel, Awoba, Akaso and Alakiri,” he said.

The chief corporate communications officer recalled that in 2014, Eroton acquired the 45 interest previously owned by Shell – 30 per cent, Total – 10 per cent and NAOC – five per cent, in the then NNPC/SPDC/Total/Agip OML 18 JV.

Following the equity acquisition, he said Eroton became NNPC’s partner in the OML 18 JV and Eroton was designated as the Operator in accordance with relevant provisions of the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) between the parties.

He said subsequently in 2018, Eroton farmed-out part of its equity to OML 18 Energy Resource Limited – 16.20 per cent and Bilton Energy Limited – 1.80 per cent.

According to him, from 2016 to date, OML 18’s net crude oil production has significantly fallen from approximately thirty thousand barrels per day (30,000 bpd) to zero production.

This, he said, was in spite of consistent compliance to the joint venture’s funding obligations by the JV partners over the same period.

In recognition of the impact of the challenges in crude evacuation via the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL), the operator proposed, and partners approved an Alternative Crude Oil Evacuation Process by barging.

Eroton is unable to execute this alternative, leading to the current zero production status of the asset.

NNPC Eighteen Operating Limited has taken control of the operational and production assets in the block.

It is currently engaging the relevant stakeholders, workers union and communities, among others, to restore operations to its full capability and secure value for all partners and the federation. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

=============
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

By Ella Anokam

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is working with other stakeholders to mitigate the slight tightness being experienced in the distribution of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

Mr Farouk Ahmed, Authority Chief Executive, NMDPRA made this known in a statement on Sunday.

He said that operations in loading depots have fully resumed, following the restriction of movements during the recently concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections, which necessitated truck drivers to travel to exercise their civic duty.

The chief executive said the public should take note that the current stock sufficiency stood at 35.39 days for PMS, 34.86 days for Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and 31.36 days for Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK).

“The authority continues to strive towards guaranteeing supply and distribution reliability nationwide and strongly advises against panic buying,” the ACE said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

==========
edited by Sadiya Hamza

By Ella Anokam

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) has attributed fuel queues in Abuja and some parts of the country to restrictions of businesses and movement during the presidential and National Assembly elections.

The NNPCL said operations had resumed at the depots and trucks were being dispatched to various parts of the country.

Mr Garba Deen Muhammad, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPCL, in a statement said its latest updates released on Saturday showed a total of 2.1 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) stock.

Muhammad said this represented 0.9 billion litres in all the land depots nationwide and 1.2 billion litres on marine vessels.

This, he said, was equivalent to 35 days sufficiency as of March 4.

Muhammad, while reassuring Nigerians of a robust supply of PMS, said the NNPCL planned to close the month of March with about 2.8 billion litres, equivalent to 47 days of sufficiency.

“The appearance of pockets of queues in Abuja and some parts of the country, is largely due to restrictions in businesses and movement, to allow for the conduct of the presidential and NASS elections to enable Nigerians to exercise their civic right.

“However, operations have now resumed at the depots and trucks are being dispatched to various parts of the country.

“We expect normalcy to be restored in the next few days.

“NNPC Ltd. and all its partners and stakeholders will continue to work together to ensure seamless distribution of petroleum products around the gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.

“We, therefore, enjoin Nigerians not to engage in panic buying,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

=============
Edited by Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma